The Return to the Unknown
by EyeOfTheBlizzard
Summary: Sasuke Retrieval Mission: Failed. Life moves on, Naruto keeps searching, right? Not right. Naruto has a near permanent case of amnesia. So who is behind the mask that was forgotten along with his memories? How will he take on the world that wants him dead
1. Chapter 1

The Return to the Unknown

He was in the hospital, he figured. The blonde boy who was sitting upright in his hospital bed looked unseeingly forward. Being is a hospital answered one question but raised so many more. "Where is the hospital? Why am I in the hospital?" 

The boy turned his unseeing gaze into himself in search of answers.

--

There was a raven haired boy who looked to be twelve or thirteen standing on a large statue. His back was turned, revealing a red and white fan pattern on the back of his navy blue shirt. 

On a statue of a different person across from the raven haired one was another boy who looked to be about the same age. He wore an orange jumpsuit and still called himself a shinobi. His sun kissed hair and whisker-like birthmarks could be hidden from none.

All that separated the two was a waterfall.

The air was thick with the irony of repetition. One who meant to save his friend from himself even if it meant a fight to the death. The number of parallels between the two boys and the men that the statues that they stood upon depicted were numerous.

--

The two boys now stood upon the surface of the water. They each began to charge up what would become their signature technique. The raven haired one's left fist began to crackle with a large amount of electricity. It sounded oddly like a thousand birds chirping. He declared that this was the Chidori- One Thousand Birds. The blonde swirled his chakra to create a sphere of energy in his right hand. It looked like it contained a tsunami. He declared it to be called the Rasengan-Spiral Sphere. 

The two youths who had learned the unique techniques of two of their elders charged. In the future they would change the techniques into something truly original and truly their own, but for now; they fight. 

--

The blonde's gaze was now obscured by a scarlet haze. He knew only one thing. This fight is for real.

After about a minute of brutally pounding the raven haired one, he became much harder to hit. It was almost as if he could read the blonde's every move. 

--

The haze was even thicker now. It seemed to almost be on a corporeal level. The now animalistic looking blonde gaze set upon his rival. The black fiery marks that had spread over his opponent's body shortly after the haze thickened had consumed his raven haired enemy.

He now felt a power spike form his enemy and saw that his skin had darkened to a gray tone, and how the whites of his eyes had become black. His hair had lightened to a light violet color and there was a black cross like mark across the bridge of his nose. The blonde was really surprised however, when two hand like appendages sprouted from the now violet haired one's back.

--

This was the end. 

Under a silent mutual agreement that there would be one last Rasengan vs. Chidori clash they began powering up their jutsu once more. The violet haired one last Chidori, this time it was one enveloped in a cursed black lightning. The animalistic blonde swirled together one more Rasengan, this time composed of the scarlet demonic energies.

They charged again.

--

The two supercharged techniques met, enclosing the boys in a black sphere of pure energy. The blonde no longer saw his friend, but an enemy, who was attempting to go in for the kill. He couldn't bring himself to kill his friend however, and instead, went to win their previously constructed bet formed out of sheer arrogance. He used the last of his energy to scratch the raven haired boy's forehead protector. 

His last thoughts before unconsciousness were pity for what his rival who he had secretly looked up to had become. Then he landed on his head. Hard. 

--

The blonde, hospitalized, whisker faced boy summed up that those flashes of memory were all that he could remember at the moment when he heard someone open the door to his room.

A pineapple haired boy wearing a green flak jacket was standing in the doorway. "You're awake?" It was more a statement than a question.

"Who are you?"

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**Author's Note**

Yeah, this is my newest idea. Naruto gets amnesia after his fight with Sasuke. 

In the flashback, though… Naruto doesn't remember it in such clarity. I just felt that it would be a good idea to add some dramatic wording to it. The reason I don't refer to Sasuke by name in the flashback is because Naruto doesn't remember who he is. He just remembers that he is a former friend, but he doesn't remember Sasuke's name.

Oh yeah, disclaimer. I don't own Naruto and I'm glad that I don't because I like being surprised with the twists and turns that Shippuden is taking.

Over and Out

Eye of the Blizzard.


	2. Chapter 2

The Return to the Unknown

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Previously…

The blonde, hospitalized, whisker faced boy summed up that those flashes of memory were all that he could remember at the moment when he heard someone open the door to his room.

A pineapple haired boy wearing a green flak jacket was standing in the doorway. "You're awake?" It was more a statement than a question.

"Who are you?"

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Ch2A Mask Forgotten

"What?" The pineapple head asked, hoping this was some sort of sick joke. Not even Naruto is stupid enough to feign amnesia, is he?

"Who are you?" Naruto asked again, saying it slowly as if speaking to a child.

"Err…" The boy didn't know how to respond. He knew that Naruto knew who he was, and was really hoping for him to start cracking up sometime. Soon. Guess not. The boy figured that it must not be all that uncommon for someone who just lost a hard fought fight to have a slight case of amnesia. He decided to go ahead and play through. Best not to tick off a Naruto who does remember that you're his friend. "My name is Nara Shikamaru."

"Okay, so why are you in my room? You don't look like a nurse."

Shikamaru noticed that Naruto seemed to be oddly defensive, no - wary of him. A stranger in his eyes. Shikamaru had always seen that Naruto was an overly trusting person. Amnesia couldn't change a person this much, could it?"

"Oi! I asked you a question!" Impatience still there? Check.

Shikamaru's eyes widened, as he hadn't realized he was that deep into thought. "Uh, yeah. I came in to check on how your mission went. As the squad leader, I still have to turn in your part of the mission report." He figured that it would be a good idea to establish himself as outranking Naruto here and now.

The blonde looked at Shikamaru questioningly. "Mission?"

"You were to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke before he crossed into Oto. You failed, but how did it go?"

Naruto's brow had furrowed n concentration. "Uchiha… Sasuke? Who's that?"  
Shikamaru's eyes widened considerably. This had to be worse than he thought if he couldn't even remember his long time rival Sasuke.

Just then, the door opened to reveal a busty blonde haired woman who looked to be in her thirties (but was actually in her fifties) and a preadolescent pink haired girl.

Naruto tensed, but refrained from putting up a defensive posture. He asked Shikamaru, "Who are they?"

The women's looked at Shikamaru, clearly asking if this was part a really bad joke. They decided to play along for now. The busty medic rushed over to Naruto and started to examine him. "My name is Tsunade, and I am your doctor. Now, if you please, I need to run a diagnostics." Her hand began to glow green as she started the diagnostics.

Shikamaru moved over to the pink haired girl, who seemed to be in shock and explained. "Sakura, something happened to Naruto during the mission and now he's got amnesia. He doesn't remember anyone. Not me, not you, not even Sasuke."

"Sasuke Kun, where is he?" She asked worriedly as if waking form a daze. Apparently that was the only word that registered to her.

Shikamaru shook his head. "Troublesome."

Sakura's eyes widened further and glanced at Naruto. _"I never should've depended on him to get Sasuke Kun back. Now because of my weakness, I've lost both my teammates." _She turned as if to leave and never come back.

"Taikou san."

Sakura stopped and turned slowly to glance at Naruto. She must have been too depressed to berate him for calling her pink.

"You couldn't hide your emotions to save your life, Taikou san. Don't let the sadness consume you. Grow stronger so that next time so that next time you won't feel like such a burden. Grow stronger so that next time you can do something. Grow stronger so that you can protect that which you hold dear. Grow stronger because next time, you might not have someone else to fall back onto. Tears solve nothing, but in your case, neither will action. Grow strong so that it doesn't happen again."

Sakura, no- everyone stared at Naruto, dumbfounded. Since when was he that good at reading people? Everyone knew that Naruto's deduction skills were nonexistent. Hinata was enough proof of that. Although, it would be just like him to pull such an inspiring speech out of his ass.

After registering the speech, Sakura had lost the depressed dullness in her eyes. "Arigato, Naruto kun." She said with a small smile, and then turned to leave.

"You seem to be healing up pretty well, Naruto. Could you tell me everything that you remember?" Tsunade asked, having finished the diagnostics.

"Right. Uh… all I can remember is fight a black haired boy my age with red eyes and black markings on his skin. He wore a forehead protector like that one." He told, motioning at metal plate attached to Shikamaru's left sleeve.

"Hm… that's what I figured. The damages from the fight, the mental trauma, and such a bad concussion; there's no telling how long it will be until you regain your memory. I'd say that the best solution would be to put your life back to normal as possible once you get released form here. You'll help. Right, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Its troublesome, but I'll do it. I suppose it's my job to inform everyone else."

"Right." Shikamaru remained standing there. "Well go!" he glanced at Naruto once more then turned to amble out.

After closing the door behind the lazy Chunin, called out irritably, "Kakashi, are you going to stand there all day or are you gonna reintroduce yourself to your student!".

A lazy looking masked man landed on the windowsill beside Naruto's bed. His forehead protector covered his left eye, causing his silver (not grey) hair top jut out at an odd angle. He wore a green flak jacket, black shinobi pants, and blue shinobi sandals. "Hey Naruto, do you remember me or do I really have to reintroduce myself?"

"Don't remember a thing, sensei!" The blonde exclaimed cheerfully.

"But you remember that I'm your sensei?"

"Nope. She said you were." He pointed to Tsunade, who was leaving the room for them to have student teacher bonding time.

"_Naruto never caught on to things this quickly. Tsunade Sama only said that once, in passing. Maybe this is the Naruto capable of sneaking into the Hokage's house and stealing the Forbidden Scroll." _Kakashi ducked under a pillow that was thrown at him and resisted the urge to watch it fall three stories down to the ground.

"You were saying?" Naruto asked, wondering why everyone was zoning out on him.

"Sorry. Just thinking about how to do this. Last time I introduced myself to you, I did the mysterious routine. Lets see… My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like to read. I dislike people who would abandon their friends. And my dreams are still none of your business." Kakashi read off with an eye smile.

Naruto sweatdropped at that last part, but decided to reciprocate. "My name is Naruto. I like… I don't remember what I like. I, well I'm not too fond of hospitals. My dream? Well, I suppose I want to regain my memory." He replied with quite a bit of uncertainty.

Kakashi inwardly sighed. "_...He lacks the strength of a proper purpose, and that was practically all that Naruto had in terms of strength. His eyes though… they're strong, but its not the same kind of strength. Why do I feel like I've seen this before? "_

"Oi! Are you just going to stare at me all day?" The blonde yelled, growing slightly uncomfortable at the way Kakashi was looking at him.

"Huh? Did you say something?" The scarecrow asked, as if snapping out of deep thought. He continued without waiting for an answer, "Just rest up and don't leave until Tsunade Sama lets you. I need to go check up on your teammate and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." He proceeded to jump out the window.

"Well that was enlightening." Naruto said sarcastically.

"Hai, I agree." Kakashi was again on the windowsill. "Here's your pillow. See ya for real this time.

"…Right."He positioned the pillow under himself and attempted to get comfortable when he heard a very girly sounding screech coming from what was clearly a guy's voice.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S GOT AMNESIA?" A few seconds later, wild figure burst down the door. He had short spiked brown hair and two red triangle tattooed to his cheeks. Overall, he had a rather canine appearance.

A few seconds after that, a haggard looking Shikamaru ambled in. "Troublesome. Don't expect me to give you a loan when you have to pay for that door, Kiba."

Kiba suddenly looked horrified. "Shit! Oka san will kill if she finds out! Naruto help me! Please?"

"Dog breath, get out of my room."

"Aww…" Kiba began to pout, but then brightened up as if remembering something important." Ha! Take that Shika! He remembers me!"

"No, I don't'. You smell like wet dog. Now get the hell out before… err." Kiba got a bad feeling in the pit of his gut when Naruto decided to point behind him rather than finish the sentence.

"Kiba..." Her voice sounded sickeningly sweet. "Get the hell back into your room! You'll aggravate your injuries!" Her voice shifted again to sickeningly sweet. "Oh, look… you're bleeding all over the place. Let me patch you up. In your room." The last sentence clearly promised pain.

Naruto just waved at Kiba as he was forcibly removed from the room by the brunette veterinarian.

"Troublesome. I tell him you've got amnesia and he freaks out. Anyways, that was Inuzuka Kiba. You two weren't the best of friends, but-"

"Yeah. I think I understand. But who was the doctor?"

"His sister, I think…"

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**Authors Note**

You may have noticed that I have discontinued The Smarter Choice. Now I can work on this without feeling guilty about trying (and failing) to work on three projects at once.

I figure I have the reactions about right. Shika would roll with the flow. Kaka sensei would hide his suspicions. Tsunade assumes the role of standard doctor for now, and Sakura is probably telling herself that this is very temporary.

As for Kiba, he likes the new Naruto better. (when he gets to know him.)

Naruto sure says "Oi!" a lot don't he?

Review if you liked it please!


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